Thank you from all of us at Breaking Chains!

Originally posted January 8, 2012

“I have never felt more relaxed,” our friend Belkis said. She sat looking at a calm beach and her children playing. “Before I came here, I was so stressed. Now, my back doesn’t hurt any more; my feet don’t hurt any more. I’m so relaxed. Thank you.”

Belkis accompanied our team and nearly 40 others living in our building to the beach for our Christmas celebration. Many of our BC friends said this Christmas was the best they had ever experienced. I heard countless thank-you’s from smiling faces who just opened their presents, who just swam in the ocean or had just enjoyed a relaxing nap away from the problems at home.

We left the Monday after Christmas and spent the next two days in Amapala enjoying the relaxing atmosphere of the beach. We couldn’t have asked for a better time.

We ate, we laughed, we played, we swam and we opened presents. We had everyone sit in a circle with one chair in the middle. We picked out a gift and called out who it was for, and then that person came to the middle to open their gift. Each time we would call a name, the rest of the circle would cheer for that child or adult.

Thirty-nine of our friends opened gifts for themselves with two mommies opening presents for their babies as well. We also gave small gifts to the family we paid to cook four meals for all 45 of us. All in all, forty-five people opened a total of 125 packages, leaving sheets of gift wrap covering an 8×8 portion of the beach.

Together we enjoyed the sun on a beautiful beach in the shadow of the mountains of El Salvador and Nicaragua. We expected all of this fun to be a part of the trip, but the results were much more than just those.

We created a family while at the beach, cemented friendships and built new ones. Families and teens, who rarely interacted with each other except when they had to, now laugh together, now speak to one another.

When you’re talking about any group of people, that’s special. But when you’re talking about a group of once homeless people, that’s a miracle. God created bonds on that beach, and we pray it will lead to fewer arguments in 2012.

We are all beyond grateful to all of you for making this trip happen. You blessed lives in ways you will never know and in ways we never saw coming. You gave a vacation to parents who needed it, and you provided a family and a special Christmas to many kids who have never known either. Thank you for blessing our Christmas and kick-starting a better new year.

Many blessings to all of you in 2012! You also helped us take our friends to the Tegucigalpa Carnival on New Year’s Eve. We had money left over from Christmas, and we wanted to celebrate the new year together! So, you helped in more ways than just Christmas! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!

To see the full album of photos, visit us on Facebook. We have over 400 pictures of our fun times at the beach.

40 for 40: A blessing and a challenge

Originally posted January 4, 2012

Hello friends. We have some exciting news to share! As you may know, this year Winterfest (an annual, two-city youth conference) has chosen to bless Breaking Chains with its Sunday morning event contribution to help purchase our ministry facility. That is already a huge blessing in itself, but here’s some more news. A pair of generous donors has offered up an additional $40,000, dollar-for-dollar matching grant for this year’s contribution. That means if we can raise $40,000 through the contribution on Sunday (combined from both venues), the donors will put up an additional $40,000 – bringing the total to $80,000. That amount will go a LONG way in helping us meet our goal of $150,000 to purchase the building and replace the roof.

The matching grant donors have offered a blessing and a challenge -so now it’s your turn. We need your help! At times the Sunday morning contribution can be a bit of an impulse, throw in whatever change (if any) is left in your pocket from fast food and souvenir purchases – but we are asking for a little more forethought. If you have visited our ministry before, we ask that you think about the people you have met who will be served by having the building. So get your youth group together and brainstorm ways to bring some extra cash to Winterfest. Approach your church leadership or individual members and ask if they will chip in for a one-time donation to bring with you. Tell your friends who aren’t familiar with Breaking Chains about it, and encourage them to bring a few bucks to donate as well.

It’s a big goal, but we believe it can be done through your support, spreading the word and  prayer. So, eat in one night instead of hitting up McDonald’s, and bring that extra $5 with you. Just a little planning ahead will make a big difference as we work to help those living in urban poverty in Honduras.

We are so thankful for the love and support that so many of you already show us. We could not ask for a better place to serve or better people to stand alongside us. The attached picture is our 40 for 40 icon – a statement of hope as we try and raise $40,000 for the promise of $40,000 more. We ask that you spend some time in prayer over this contribution and keep checking Facebook and our other communication sites for more updates.

Bendiciones,

Breaking Chains Honduras

 

Spreading Christmas Wishes

Originally posted December 2, 2011

Thanks to an amazing outpouring of love and support, Breaking Chains has received enough donations to sponsor each child and adult living in our ministry facility for Christmas! We are so humbled by the response to our request for sponsors that was fulfilled in just five days. It is a true testament to of how the love of Christ reaches beyond cultural and geographic boundaries.

Thank you to everyone who sponsored a child or adult from Breaking Chains Honduras this Christmas. We are so excited to give them a great Christmas this year, only made possible by your support. 

To go along with the presents, we would like to add a personal touch to each gift by including a note from each sponsor. We will translate the notes into Spanish so that the recipients can see just how much those of you in the U.S. care about them. Notes should be emailed to michael@bchonduras.org.

For more information, please visit Michael’s blog at www.livingoutmyfaith.wordpress.com.Thank you again for your wonderful love and support of the people we care so deeply about.

Welcome!

Originally posted November 16, 2011

Welcome friends of Breaking Chains Honduras! This blog has been established to capture key moments and happenings in our ever-growing ministry. In addition to their personal blogs, ministry team members will use this forum to post the share-worthy stories that happen as we work with those living in urban poverty in Tegucigalpa. Get to know our team, get to know our ministry and get to know the people that we love and serve daily. We thank you for reading and ask your continued prayers as we break chains together.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”1 John 4:18

 

Laboring with Love

Originally posted on November 17, 2011

Dust-covered and exhausted, but laughing, we piled into the back of a red Ford truck and headed home, leaving one hard day’s work and a freshly built house in our wake. Jen Wright and David Logue, missionaries who work closely with our ministry, received funding last week to build a house for a family in need. Since the rush of summer mission teams has stopped, they were in need of a good number of workers to help with the job – and we thought it would be a great opportunity for the teenagers from the building.

Getting a group together to work on any kind of manual labor project is usually a recipe for building unity and creating common ground between people. At least, that is what we were banking on as we placed hammers in the hands of eight of our homeless teenagers, some of whom have a history of not getting along, and hoped and for the best.

We arrived at the work site on Wednesday morning and saw the grand task that awaited us. It was a two-level structure (one level above ground and a basement) that used to include a house, but now just served as a rickety carpentry shop because the floor wasn’t sturdy enough to chance anyone living in it. The first step was to take out everything in the existing structure, including the heavy carpentry equipment. Then it was time to take down everything that was still standing. A few teens hopped on the roof to pull off the old tin, while the rest wailed away with hammers or pulled boards down by hand.  Because of the years of wood shavings and dirt piled on every surface the house, taking it down resulted in mushroom clouds of dust that exploded on all who were unfortunate enough to be within a 15-foot radius. Everyone traded skin color by the end of the day – those who arrived at the site looking white left looking Honduran, and those who arrived looking Honduran, left looking white because of the color of the dust.

Once the old was down, the new was ready to be built. With the help of Mark Connell, another friend and U.S. missionary living in Honduras, the teens measured, leveled, cut and nailed their way to a beautiful looking wood house. And what we had hoped would happen, did. The teens worked together with each other and with us, pairing up to pass boards, nailing tin in rhythmic unison, and laughing every once in a while at someone else’s unfortunate hammering ability (in good fun, of course).

At the end of the day, there was a product that they could look at, visible and complete, and say they had accomplished. Once the house was built, we went inside to pray with the family. A new teen at our building volunteered and led a beautiful prayer of blessing over the house and the family. But, the prayers weren’t over. The wife of the carpenter and woman of the house then stepped to the middle of the circle. Through genuine tears, she poured out her gratitude to God and to the teens for their work and prayed blessings right back to them. It was a special moment for the teens, who are often looked down upon and seen as delinquents, to be the recipients of praise and appreciation. It was an opportunity for them to see that even though they have little, there are still opportunities to bless richly, and they are more than capable of doing so.